The people who currently hold the most power and influence in this country (and their followers) seem to be characterized by two defining qualities. The first is that they are almost always guilty of whatever they’re loudly accusing their opponents of doing – and not just guilty, but egregiously, extremely so, while their opponents are usually not just completely innocent of whatever wrong they are said to be committing but have actively and historically fought against it. All the lip service about fascism and religious oppression and eroding freedoms, it’s all them doing it and trying to misdirect citizens by pointing fingers at those with whom they disagree. It’s part and parcel of their MO to hang on to power at any cost, even if it means cheating to acquire and maintain it.
Secondly, the perpetrators control the means of disseminating their accusations, as well as the pursestrings to continue beating the other side into the ground with them. This means a good many more citizens believe them because they’re effectively only hearing one side of the story, the side that repeatedly connects their personal misfortune and paranoia to some supposed evil brought on by anyone who doesn’t agree with them. These citizens aren’t stupid; they know something’s up, suspect things are worse than a decade ago, but they can be led to believe that their fear and unease and bad economic luck is actually the fault of the people trying to prevent it rather than the people perpetuating it, in large measure because the main news access they have or know or trust (usually TV) keeps implying or outright saying it. So they go against their better judgment and instincts and even beliefs (few of the people in power who profess to be Christian seem to follow Christ’s actual teachings against poverty and hatred and public displays of religious fervor) and keep supporting the same crooks and liars and Pharisees and bigots.
But we’ve made tremendous inroads, despite the powerful trying its hardest to control our megaphones and marginalize our common sense. Thanks in large measure to the internet, citizen activists and court jesters are lightning-quick to respond to, for instance, right-wing radicals playing the religion card not by taking their bait, but by pointing out examples of actual religious discrimination (which is almost never against a country's dominant religion) and shining a light on the true instigators. Hard-working investigators continue to make connections and publish their findings in books that top the Amazon sales charts as soon as they’re released. We’re ripe to take matters into our own hands by calling these people on every bit of bullying they try – by repeating our own message, over and over, that these are the badguys and their track record proves it, that citizens need to watch what the radicals do and not what they say (especially not what they say their opponents are doing), that it’s essential they pay attention to the men and women behind the curtain.
And we need to stop being so hard on our fellow citizens who aren’t moved to action as quickly as we are. We need to have more faith in the people of the United States, to remember that these folks are hungry for truth and justice. Even those who have no interest in foreign lands are tired of our country being despised by the rest of the world because of a few radicals’ disastrous policies. Even as they keep falling back to the corporate media’s line that the only solution is for the same radicals to keep blundering through and hoping for the best – with less oversight and fewer friends and believers all the time – they’re eager for a way out of this depression and morass. That way out can only be through infusing citizens with hope and courage, not fear and paranoia; by engaging them, not accusing them; by focusing on the best of what unites us, not on our differences. By being everything the hatemongers aren’t and, by their nature, can never be. And by touting our accomplishments and beliefs rather than letting the radicals define us as everything they are and we’re not.
Secondly, the perpetrators control the means of disseminating their accusations, as well as the pursestrings to continue beating the other side into the ground with them. This means a good many more citizens believe them because they’re effectively only hearing one side of the story, the side that repeatedly connects their personal misfortune and paranoia to some supposed evil brought on by anyone who doesn’t agree with them. These citizens aren’t stupid; they know something’s up, suspect things are worse than a decade ago, but they can be led to believe that their fear and unease and bad economic luck is actually the fault of the people trying to prevent it rather than the people perpetuating it, in large measure because the main news access they have or know or trust (usually TV) keeps implying or outright saying it. So they go against their better judgment and instincts and even beliefs (few of the people in power who profess to be Christian seem to follow Christ’s actual teachings against poverty and hatred and public displays of religious fervor) and keep supporting the same crooks and liars and Pharisees and bigots.
But we’ve made tremendous inroads, despite the powerful trying its hardest to control our megaphones and marginalize our common sense. Thanks in large measure to the internet, citizen activists and court jesters are lightning-quick to respond to, for instance, right-wing radicals playing the religion card not by taking their bait, but by pointing out examples of actual religious discrimination (which is almost never against a country's dominant religion) and shining a light on the true instigators. Hard-working investigators continue to make connections and publish their findings in books that top the Amazon sales charts as soon as they’re released. We’re ripe to take matters into our own hands by calling these people on every bit of bullying they try – by repeating our own message, over and over, that these are the badguys and their track record proves it, that citizens need to watch what the radicals do and not what they say (especially not what they say their opponents are doing), that it’s essential they pay attention to the men and women behind the curtain.
And we need to stop being so hard on our fellow citizens who aren’t moved to action as quickly as we are. We need to have more faith in the people of the United States, to remember that these folks are hungry for truth and justice. Even those who have no interest in foreign lands are tired of our country being despised by the rest of the world because of a few radicals’ disastrous policies. Even as they keep falling back to the corporate media’s line that the only solution is for the same radicals to keep blundering through and hoping for the best – with less oversight and fewer friends and believers all the time – they’re eager for a way out of this depression and morass. That way out can only be through infusing citizens with hope and courage, not fear and paranoia; by engaging them, not accusing them; by focusing on the best of what unites us, not on our differences. By being everything the hatemongers aren’t and, by their nature, can never be. And by touting our accomplishments and beliefs rather than letting the radicals define us as everything they are and we’re not.
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